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Raindrop-formed ‘sandballs’ that erode hillsides tenfold
High-speed images of raindrops rolling on a sandy slope, forming peanut-shaped sandballs (top) and donut-shaped sandballs with hollow centers (bottom).

High-speed laboratory images capture two distinct “sandball” shapes formed when raindrops strike dry, sloped sand and roll downhill. (Top) Peanut-shaped sandballs, where grains coat the surface of a liquid core. (Bottom) Donut-shaped sandballs, which densify into rigid, wheel-like structures with a hollow center, enabling far more efficient sediment transport than splash erosion alone.

(Image: Daisuke Noto)

Raindrop-formed ‘sandballs’ that erode hillsides tenfold

Penn geophysicists and colleagues have uncovered Earth-sculpting processes that result from the formation of snowball-like aggregates they call “sandballs.” Their findings provide fundamental insights into erosion and will broaden scientific understandings of landscape change, soil loss, and agriculture.

3 min. read

Powering AI from space, at scale

Powering AI from space, at scale

A new design for solar-powered data centers reduces weight, power consumption, and overall complexity, making large-scale deployment more feasible.

Ian Scheffler

2 min. read

How to incentivize problem solving in groups
Artist rendering of several people conected with string stretch their connections to the limit, testing the strength of unity.

Image: Flavio Coelho via Getty Images

How to incentivize problem solving in groups

Why do some groups get smarter together while others collapse into groupthink? New research from theoretical biologist Joshua Plotkin and collaborators show that collective intelligence doesn’t emerge by rewarding the most accurate individuals but by rewarding those who improve the group’s prediction as a whole.

3 min. read

New report unpacks the crises facing American journalism and offers solutions
A row of newspaper boxes, mostly empty.

Image: RiverNorthPhotography via Getty Images

New report unpacks the crises facing American journalism and offers solutions

A report co-authored by Annenberg School for Communication professor Victor Pickard traces the erosion of the free press in the United States over the past two decades.

From Annenberg School for Communication

2 min. read

Can classroom cell phone bans boost grades?

Can classroom cell phone bans boost grades?

New research from Alp Sungu, assistant professor of operations, information, and decisions at Wharton, shows that collecting phones during college classes raises grades and creates calmer classrooms.

Perspectives and insight on Venezuela

Perspectives and insight on Venezuela

Four Penn Arts & Sciences experts gathered for a Knowledge by the Slice event to discuss what lies ahead for Venezuela, the U.S., and Latin America.

From Omnia

Literature and medicine
Dag Woubeshet (right) speaks with student in a classroom who is giving the thumbs up.

Dagmawi Woubshet (right), Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Term Associate Professor of English, says “we try to teach our students how to think critically and historically, but also with fidelity to the art object.”

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Literature and medicine

The Penn Arts & Sciences course Literature and Medicine begins with Apollo and the Hippocratic Oath and extends through the 21st century with poetry, novels, videography, historical texts, and guest lecturers from the Perelman School of Medicine and beyond.

Kristina Linnea García

2 min. read

Awards and accolades for Penn faculty
An archway on Penn’s campus in the snow.

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Awards and accolades for Penn faculty

A roundup of the latest appointments and awards for various faculty members in the Graduate School of Education, the School of Arts & Sciences, and the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Penn Today Staff

2 min. read

Moving closer to ‘true’ equine IVF for clinical use
Katrin Hinrichs and Matheus Felix in a lab.

Katrin Hinrichs, chair of the Department of Clinical Studies–New Bolton Center and head of the Penn Equine Assisted Reproduction Laboratory (PEARL) and Matheus Felix, PEARL’s chief embryologist, work together in the lab. Felix is also an author in the 2025 study report on IVF with frozen-thawed stallion sperm.

(Image: Courtesy of Penn Vet)

Moving closer to ‘true’ equine IVF for clinical use

Researchers at Penn Vet are exploring different processes for using frozen-thawed semen to accomplish so-called true IVF.

From Penn Vet

2 min. read